Fish Finder Training – Screenshots & Interpretations

[Feathers and Fins]

Sounds like the upgrade may have messed with your settings... Go back to setting and check it didn't change your transducer ID. after that put it on the #1 option for screen color ( old school b&w ) then set your sensitivity and clarity. I would bet it messed up your transducer setting.

[Weekend Worrior]

I main fish for bass jig and plastics guy. But I'm wanting to expand on how I fish. I was looking at getting thr elite 7x hdi that's about top end for my budget. But I'm open for other ideas if u guide s think I'm headed in the wrong direction

[J-Doc]

I have the Elite 5dsi and like it but......if that's you only unit, you will want traditional sonar. The Elite units are Gen 1 and not as good as the Gen 2 units like the HDI units. The Elite is not real good for picking up fish on the graph unless you know what you're looking for. They don't show up as traditional "fish arches" lime traditional sonar. I'd recommend a color sonar with built in GPS if you want a GPS unit. Otherwise, by a nice 5-7" color graph as that's all you need. I'd you can later splurge and get a side-scan unit with structure scan and a color graph......you will change how you think about fishing. Side scan is awesome and I can't wait to get one on my new boat. You can find fish from one side of the lake to the other without moving. There's just no hiding and you don't waste a lot of time/fuel looking for fish. That's my advice. Color sonar and no structure scan. Elite 5 or Elite 7 without the "dsi". That's a good graph but you can get a color Eagle graph (made by Lowrance) cheaper. Probably $200. Add in a car graph for the front with the money saved! :-) Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 4

[J-Doc]

Stupid auto correct changes all my words....thanks Droid!! Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 4

[J-Doc]

Since this thread has tapered off, I'm posting this here as I think anyone who is subscribed to this thread will be very interested in this new technology.

I admit, I've often wondered why we did not have this years ago. I've often had the exact same idea that Lowrance has now come up with. A way to scan the water by using your trolling motor. Turn the pedal in which the trolling motor is headed and you can get live scans of the direction of which you are pointing/headed.

Pretty

stinkin'

cool!!

Some will disagree and some will hate this. I myself find it a useful tool. It's not a "fish catcher". To me it's a "fish pattern finder" more than a fish finder. If you learn how to use it and fully take advantage of the technology, you will learn more by observing the fish and then having confidence to continue fishing an area that has fish until you find out what they want vs. "Ah......there's no fish here" and then leaving a perfectly good area.

http://www.wired2fish.com/lowrance-releases-new-spotlight-feature-and-sonarhub/

[J-Doc]

Here are a few screenshots from a recent trip.

I used dual frequency on this one. This is a clear image of a large group of bait.

Here is another interesting screen shot showing an even larger school of baitfish. The fishing is definitely getting better right now! Time to get back out on the water!

[ric lee]

Thanks. Lot to absorb.

[J-Doc]

My screenshots above are not that helpful. My apologies.

Here are a few I picked up in my trip out yesterday.

The original screenshot from my little Lowrance unit are on the left.

My interpretations and comments are supperimposed on the original image on the right.

As a reminder, sonar signals are bounced from the transducer to the bottom and back and fish are shown as "fish arches" because of how the signals are reflected back to the transducer. If you have a traditional sonar, you're probably using 200khz signals. My Elite 5dsi uses 455 & 800. The lower the frequency (455khz on the right side of the screenshot below), the larger the arch. The highter the freqency (800khz on the left side of screenshot), the smaller and more accurate the depiction of size of fish.

Here's a nice screenshot of some suspended fish I found as I was leaving a cove. Notice the false echo on the 455khz and not shown on the 800khz? I thought it was fish suspended on a tree at first until the 800khz cleaned up the image.

Notice the fish nested in the trees and the depth they are showing up. (455khz on right, 800khz on left)

Same here...

Oh, and this is just off of the marina at Prarie Creek! With all of the fish being turned loose at the ramp......it's got a lot of potential.

[J-Doc]

Here is a LOT of information on sonar if someone was willing to read a lot of info. I know you can learn a lot from Doctor Sonar.

http://doctorsonar.com/pages/lowrance-pro-s-corner-by-luke-morris

[fishinwrench]

I'm honestly impressed! With the images and your expanding knowledge of sonar equipment that is.....But dammit, where are the accompanying pics of slimey green things with holes in their lips ?